Skyward series

 Novel by Brandon Sanderson.

Skyward (book 1):This book sucked me in completely and I literally couldn’t put it down! And I’m not entirely sure why, since I’m not normally a big fan of sci fi, war strategy, or fighter pilot tactics. All I know is I loved everything about it. And there was no objectionable content (unless you’re offended by the made up swear word “scud” which the characters use profusely), so ages 10+ can enjoy this.

Starsight (book 2):  I didn’t love this one as much as the first. The beginning was slow and for quite a while I just didn’t care much about the plot. Although I enjoyed the introduction of several alien species and the overall theme of learning to really see people and understand their perspective, I was thrown off by the use of “they” pronouns for singular non gendered beings. Unrelated to the politics of pronouns, and purely from a grammatical point of view, it made the read more confusing, as I constantly had to figure out which “they” pronouns were referring to groups and which were referring to individuals. I was also incredibly annoyed at the total cliffhanger ending.

Cytonic (book 3): It took a while to get into, as much of the beginning involved only Spensa and an emotionally moody M-Bot. I wanted more characters to care about. But it picked up and had some interesting twists I didn’t see coming.

Defiant (book 4): This was a fantastic ending to the series, bringing all the characters into play for this final showdown. I really enjoyed the philosophical themes of moral agency and what it means to be alive, and the strength of surrounding yourself with and relying on others rather than looking inward. And empathy leading to healing rather than hurting. Really beautiful stuff! Note: there is a brief moment near the end, when the AI announces he has been resurrected and jokes that he should now start a religion. I felt it was insensitive, making light of something many hold sacred. FYI, there is also mild profanity, a kissing scene, and a one sentence mention of a female pilot’s girlfriend. Ages 13+

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